It is winter outside now which for the most part means that I MUST wear my preferred silhouette of a long skirt, but sometimes I want to get SASSY and show a little leg. This is accomplished via a warm pair of tights so I don't turn into an icicle when I leave the house. Also I am not sure why my lips look so red in this photo, I wasn't wearing any lipstick as you'll see below...

I have ombre hair now. It makes me feel very fabulous and I love it. However! I have had dark hair for many years and am having a slight identity crisis, mostly because I do not know how to look spooky with this hair color. Like, I need to completely restructure my entire makeup routine! Do I need new blush? New lipstick? Am I still allowed to wear liquid eyeliner? Why am I so hopeless when it comes to makeup?

These tights are Very Comfy and Very Warm and I love them so much. Do you like them too? Cool, I thought so! You're in luck because Hansel from Basel wants to give you a pair! Entering is SO easy. Just ~~~LIKE~~~ their Facebook page and leave a valid email address in the comments below. United Statesian entrants only, please. I'll choose a winner at random in a week...and I'll even throw in a SURPRISE. Go forth, my cherubic readers, and win yourselves a cute pair of tights!

Edit 12/6/12: Hi everyone, thanks so much for entering! I've chosen a winner and have contacted her.

11/24/2012

I've been having a total 70s moment lately. Can't get enough bell sleeves, polyester, and empire waists! I like the fact that this silhouette feels so ~mystical~ but with a few modern accessories, the look isn't dated at all. At least, I don't think it is dated! And even if it is, kanyeshrug. I also enjoy wearing empire waists when I have been told over and over and over that this is precisely NOT the silhouette that body looks best in because I am not tall and skinny. All of those fashion rules are nonsense anyway...

11/19/2012

No, I haven't seen any of the cinematic masterpieces in the Twilight canon. And if her feelings towards the franchise are anything close to Robert Pattinson's, surely I'm not missing out! This blog post is not about her choice of contractually obligated roles or her on-screen emotional range. No, my undying devotion to Miss Stewart comes from the public persona that she lets us see.

I love that she is trolling us. I love that she has perfected the art of bitchface. I love that she wears dirty t-shirts just to piss off the paparazzi That people think she's bratty just because she doesn't play the whole Super Gracious Female Celebrity game. That she's young and says really stupid things. I love that she angrily refuses to let us into her private life (the first time I saw that video I jumped for joy). That she's always on the verge of rolling her eyes on the red carpet because she's so in on the joke. That she wore sneakers with a ungodly beautiful Marchesa skeleton dress. I love that she slouches, that she cheated on her boyfriend, that she is deeply problematic, that's she awkward, that she bites her lip in interviews. I fucking love that she is polarizing.

Her style is completely on point, a point her haters have a hard time conceding just because she rarely accessorizes with a smile. Her balance of romance and directional modernism is CRUCIAL. She takes style risks that work so well for her precisely because her demeanor is that of "LOL OKAY GUYS, THIS CELEBRITY SHIT IS STUPID AND WE ALL KNOW IT". She totally recognizes that she gets to wear cool things because she's famous but stil steadfastly refuses to give us more than she thinks we deserve. Her style is on her terms, not ours, even if that means looking like an absolute GODDESS in a see-through gown while the tabloids call you the S-word. Hey everyone, come see how many fucks she doesn't give!

KStew reminds me so much of myself at that age! And even at this age, I guess. All of that insecurity that you cannot hide no matter how hard you try, insecurity that claws at you though you try to deny it, and comes out in everything you say and do. And when you're insecure it feels like the Eye of Sauron is permanently perched just a few inches from your face at all times - but JFC, Kristen has to deal with a real Eye of Sauron everyday! Could you even imagine having all of those TOTALLY NORMAL early twenties feelings in front of the entire world?!

As Nicolette once said, Kristen Stewart is a feminist issue. When she cheated on her boyfriend the vicious words that people spewed her way were painfully familiar to me. At her age I once found myself very publicly slut-shamed because of someone I ill-advisedly chose to sleep with, even though who we have sex with is NO! ONE'S! FUCKING! BUSINESS! - it kind of became everyone's business. I remember that soul-crushing humiliation that she must have felt, along with being labeled a gigantic slut, a label neither of us ever sought to reclaim. When women have sex society feels entitled to take ownership of our bodies to such an extent that who we have sex with is seen as public record. That's why slut-shaming happens! It's a product of many things to be sure, but a huge part of it is this fucked-up sense of ownership over women's bodies. I wanted to give her and hug and tell her "I am so, so sorry this is happening to you. It's not fucking fair that your body is not your own."

KStew babygurl, if you ever read this, please accept my invitation to brunch where we can sip mimosas and talk about ~*girl thangs*~ because something tells me you and I would be besties. Let's skip the coffee dates and go straight to brunch, okay? And please, werq that bitchface in your Balenciaga and NEVER EVER STOP.

11/13/2012

I really must offer a huge thanks to Sobotka for this skirt. It's a one-off piece that looks as though it came out a nightmare, but the kind of nightmare that isn't terrifying upon waking, just unsettling, and that mood is seductive to me. I've been waiting for months for the proper weather to wear it- that is, an unseasonably comfortable November day, with the obscured sun hanging low in the sky and the wind blowing in all four directions at once. And perhaps a bit rainy. Sometimes I become mildly obsessive about not only what I'm wearing, but the context it is presented in. It gets very exhausting to sometimes eschew practicality in favor of bloodied lace skirts, but I get so compelled to mirror my environment in what I wear, and create stupid little stories that exist only in my brain, stories I share with no one, because I like to keep my thoughts as my own. And like, how pretentious is that to explain to people that "oh I'm wearing this outfit because I've created a fictional character with this skirt, and a back story that only exists within this moment in time", does anyone really want to hear that? Doubtful. I guess one's thoughts are the ultimate safe space. Cocoon yourself within them.

11/05/2012

A boutique in Colorado sent me the lookbook for some items they'll be carrying this fall. As many brands often do, they were seeking press from bloggers. The lookbook contained the following images:

Sigh. Completely not okay.

Here is the letter I sent them:

Hello (redacted),
Thanks so much for thinking of me, and for sending me your lookbook. Unfortunately I have to admit that I am extremely disappointed in the use of a headdress and Native imagery on your models. This blatant display of reappropriation is at best, culturally ignorant and insensitive, and at worst, is a cringeworthy example of racist caricature.

As a half-white female, I don't know that it is my place to comment on issues surrounding Native peoples. But since this landed in my inbox, I do feel compelled to speak up (while acknowledging that I do come from a place of racial privilege). Additionally, marginalized people should not have to bear the sole responsibility for speaking up against their oppression; as white people, we should listen to them and help educate others about their concerns when we can, as best we can.

The use of the headdress, poorly-rendered war paint, and teepees in your look do not add any significant creative aspects in your lookbook - these symbols are too loaded with history to ever be considered something other than what they are. By devaluing these symbols into fashion accessories (on white models, no less), you have effectively presented an unfortunate stereotype of a culture that to this day, continues to endure hardships that you and I will never know. That fact is very important! White people have historically treated Native Americans with absolute cruelty, what could possibly give us the right to steal what few traditions they have left? It is not "exotic" or "edgy" or "ironic". You are not "paying homage" to their history. You are making a racist mockery of their culture. And for what? To sell some Helmut Lang sweaters?

I am offering you the benefit of the doubt; it is entirely possible that you were ignorant of these issues before you proceeded with the photoshoot, and genuinely had no desire to offend anyone. Still, ignorance is no excuse. I urge you to reconsider and remove these photos. Read the links I have sent you. Please do the right thing.

Best,
Meagan

As said in my letter, I completely recognize that is it not my place to speak for Native Americans, nor am I even the most educated about the issues nor the most eloquent feminist writer. But this fell into my lap and I felt that to not speak up would go against my deepest-held beliefs. As my dear friend Jenna once said so succinctly, nothing about fashion is so ~conceptual~ that it is "above" problematicism. Fashion is not a weapon to be used to oppress those that are continually marginalized. Fashion is not creative or expressive when it uses racial stereotypes. This really needs to stop already. It is almost 2013! We need to move forward and consider what we do, and how it relates to the history many of us benefit from, and how we can to heal those wounds.

Will update this post if they happen to reply. And thanks to @verylemonade for providing me with the links to the important articles cited above.

Update 11/5/12 9:58 CST: The boutique has replied to me. Here is their email. I almost want to add a trigger warning for blatant racial ignorance. The bolded portions are those that are particularly troublesome:

Dear Meagan,I was forwarded your email by (redacted), our Director of Marketing and PR, and was absolutely saddened by your interpretation and judgement of our recent lookbook shoot. I am so incredibly sorry that you felt we were mocking Native American culture; this could not be farther from our intentions, which I will explain below. Please do not be so quick to make conclusions or negative judgements of others, however, without knowing our own background or context.These were not fake tipis or a fake landscape made as a "set" for our shoot... We shot our lookbook in our home state of Colorado at the Plains Conservation Center, which is a non-profit that is south east of Denver, which educates children and the public about Native American culture and causes. Our thinking was, why not take advantage of the fact that Native design is so trendy in fashion right now, and utilize that in order to help promote this non-profit and bring awareness to actual Native causes that people can donate to. We worked with the PCC on the shoot and it's concept, and we sent out PR on their behalf - that was essentially the trade arrangement we made with them. They were very happy to have the support and were incredibly kind to us in return.Additionally, one of our main staff who helped conceptualize the shoot and who was there on location is half Cherokee. I myself absolutely love and adore Native American culture on a very real level, and have practiced certain aspects of Native American religion since I was young. My mother actually runs a non-profit that provides assistance to impoverished members of the local Native American community in Boulder, Colorado, and so I grew up around friends who were of Native American descent my whole life. I loved the idea of honoring this culture in our shoot because it rang a very deep, personal bell with me. If you find this insulting that I, as a Caucasian woman, would revere another culture that I feel a connection to, then I am sorry you have such a negative, non-inclusive perspective.In short, our intention was to honor and pay homage to the culture in a very real way, not in a way that was meant to be exploitative or hokey. I can understand if you are upset that a white model was wearing a headdress, and if this in particular was what offended you, I do apologize. That is a touchy thing, which I understand, however let me further explain the art direction/higher-level concept behind the whole shoot in defense of that choice.... The concept for the shoot was 'early homesteaders meet Natives on the plains, in a re-imagined, fictional time period that has elements of both past and future,' as a representation of the fact that modern American culture is a melding of many different cultures. As such, our female model played the part of both sides - Caucasian homesteader, and Native American. Again, this was not meant to mock or create a caricature, but rather pay homage to the plains on which our store actually sits, and the mixed cultures from which it came.In any event, once again I apologize if our shoot offended you. Please know that our intention was only to honor the culture and to even help promote its causes in a very real and authentic way. Hopefully you can choose to be open-minded and culturally inclusive enough to see that.

I haven't replied yet, because I received this email today and haven't had time to finish my reply. As soon as its finished and sent to them, I will post it here. Quickly though, I'd like to challenge you all to take a look at Cultural Appropriation Bingo and see how many arguments in this email fit into it!

They have also asked me to remove the images that I have posted here. I have refused to do so. They originally solicited me for press, it is unreasonable for them to ask me to take down the photos because I am discussing their problematicism. To remove the images would do a disservice to this discourse and insulates them against deserved criticism.UPDATE 7:21PM 11/6/12: So while the nation (and myself!) are enthralled by the election returns, the boutique has removed their photos from their website and issued a statement of apology:

We are deeply apologetic if any images from our recent lookbook photo shoot were construed to be culturally insensitive. Our intentions could not have been farther from this, and came from a positive place. We had hoped that working with the Plains Conservation Center would help to build awareness for this local non-profit; we did not intend to hurt or offend a culture for which we have a deep respect and admiration."

We mean this from the bottom of our heart. No one involved ever intended to hurt, offend, disrespect, mock or insult anyone. We have removed the images from our website and will not be using them moving forward.

11/01/2012

So I ran across some things on the internet that I am extremely in love with, and maybe you will like them too! Or maybe you will not care at all? Maybe you will hate this? Maybe you will vomit all over your keyboard because I posted this? Shrugs. That's cool, bro.

The new video for "The Garden" by Tamaryn is e v e r y t h i n g. It is the Alpha, it is the Omega, and it deserves to be watched in fullscreen. Shot on a broken Super 8 video camera, it is a supersaturated dream world with lush imagaery that does justice to their equally lush sound. You could draw comparison from this video to the video for My Bloody Valentine's "Only Shallow" but that would be doing it a bit of a disservice - namely because "The Garden" is much more of a lifelike dream. I want to live in this video. Can I do that? Can someone make that happen for me? I mean, this is pretty much what my brain looks like anyway. Do watch this one, folks. And go see Tamaryn on her tour!

Sorcha O'Raghallaigh is a London-based designer who's just released her newest collection. It's inspired by the Virgin Mary, but its the execution and fleshed-out vision that is so entrancing. Rather than digitally print a bunch of Madonnas on some fabric, Sorcha created her pieces with a certain regality in mind. Tulle and tailored pants are unlikely combo, but with this is works because there's a strong cohesiveness throughout the vision. I'm really into this idea of taking pretty, optimistic things and making them feel dark and melancholy, which her lookbook does really well, but also shows ouff the precise detail on every garment and accessory. INTO IT.

She also collaborated with Ellen Rogers for POP Magazine, which excites me because Ellen Rogers is probably my favorite working photographer right now! Sorcha's witchy garments lend themselves perfectly to Ellen Rogers' aesthetic and use of wet plate photography. This is basically a match made in heaven.